RUGBY: Points machine

MARLBOROUGH’S Nathan Morgan celebrated a record-breaking performance after scoring a whopping 81 points as his side clinched the Dorset & Wilts Two North title last weekend.

Fly-half Morgan (pictured right) stole the show with nine tries and kicked 18 conversions as the leaders demolished Swindon College Old Boys 2nd 148-0 on Saturday despite only playing 65 of the 80 minutes.

The victory still fell short of the British record, broken on the same day as Dorset Dockers thrashed Dorchester 2nd 212-0, but Morgan shattered his club’s previous best-ever tries, conversions and individual hauls.

“In all of the time I’ve been at Marlborough, I’ve scored 40-odd once or twice and I remember other players getting that much but nothing as high as 81, so it’s really nice to do that,” said the 31-year-old.

“I think they (College) struggled to get a side together earlier in the year and we were definitely ahead on numbers on Saturday, but midway through the first half, they had a full team.

“Back when we were in the Southern Counties division, we were on the end of some big scores, so I know what it feels like.

“Obviously, rugby’s not just about two or three players but a whole team performance, and we were scoring pretty straightforward tries.

“When you’re a kicker, you have the chance to score a lot more points and every time we broke, I just always seemed to be the secondary runner. I knew that I’d scored a few but I didn’t realise just how many.

“A lot of players scored last weekend and we want to try and see if we can stay unbeaten for the rest of the season – that would be a great achievement.”

Marlborough coach Chris Budgen said: “He’s a great kicker and he did really well. The other boys worked hard to play him into those little holes as well.”

New Zealand’s Simon Culhane holds the highest top-class individual scoring record in a Rugby World Cup match for his 45 against Japan in 1995.

FOR MORE SPORTS NEWS, REPORTS & PICTURES SEE THURSDAY'S GAZETTE & HERALD AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @gazsport